Universal presser foot



June 11, 1929. w DQQLEY 1,717,099

UNIVERSAL PRES SER FOOT Filed May 21, 1927 UFA RLEsWflMLEY.

Patented June 11, 1929.

UNITED STATES CHARLES W. DOOLEY, OI DELAVAN, WISCONSIN.

UNIVERSAL DRESSER FOOT.

Application filed Kay 21,

The presser foot is of the type used as an attachment for sewingmachines. A prime purpose of the invention is to provide a unita-rypresser foot capable of performing a number of operations which havehitherto necessitated the use of a number of attachments on the sewingmachine, said presser foot being adapted for associating, guiding andsewing a number of fabrics, such'as a main fabric, minor fabrics, tapes,laces and cords; to provide means whereby the associated minor fabricsmay run over the presser foot for part of their travel with thestitching in plain view of the operator, thus en- 5 abling him to attainvery accurate operation;

to provide an inclined fabric-supporting element having entranceopenings in such relation to each other that the surface of said elementand the walls of said openings will co-act to maintain proper tension ofthe associated minor fabrics relative to the moving main fabric orfabrics; to provide a presser foot of improved form, useful for ordinarysewing and also useful for special sewing without any adjustment orchange of the presser foot itself; to provide a presser foot having aseries of chambers, a series of entrance openings and a series ofV-shape cord guides communicating with the chambers, the apexes of allof said V-shape guides being in a straight line in a vertical planecontaining the vertical axis of the sewing machine needle, in order thata very small cord or the like, may be stitched accurately 5 along itscentral lengthwise line Without wavering of the cord; to provide aseparating element between a main fabric and a minor fabric runningconcurrently, one above the other, at the center of the needle chamberto 0 space them apart from each other such a distance that when the seamis completed and the fabrics are pressed hemstitching will intervenebetween the parallel edges of the fabrics; and to provide other improvedde- 5 tails of construction as will hereinafter appear.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in whichFigure 1 is a top plan of a presser foot embodying my i0 invention; Fig.2 is a bottom view of the same presser foot inverted; Fig. 3 is avertical section through the presser foot taken on the line 33 of Fig.1; Fig. 4 is an isometric view on a reduced scale, of the same presser35 foot shown in position to operate on a major fabric, a trimmingfabric, and a cord or like 1927. Serial No. 193,158.

trimming; all in position to be sewed together at one operation; thetrimming fabric and the cord both running in clear view of the operator;and Fig. 5 is a reduced isometric view of the presser foot as used inhemstitch- 1ng; F1g. 1s a fragmental top view of the fabrics united byhemstitching and Fig. 7 shows a fragment of fabric having pin tucks madeby the use of the presser foot.

The presser foot as a whole comprises an attaching member 12; a flathorizontal intermed1ate member 13; and an upwardly inclined member 14extending to the left of the operator who faces the machine; but thework travels towards the right, as indicated bythe arrow 10.

The typical attaching member 12 shown in the drawing, has prongs 8separated by a space 9 to accommodate the usual presser bar of thesewing machine to which it is attached; it is to be understood howeverthat the form of the attaching member may be varied to suit differentmakes of sewing machines without departure from my invention. The flatmember 13 has an entrance 0 enmg 15 in the right hand edge of the memer. The entrance opening 15 is continued beyond the central line 33 andextends some distance into the left hand part of the member and forms agauge opening 17 useful for gu1d1ng the work and gauging the distance ofthe seam from the edge of the fabric, as will appear later.

The member 13 has on its under side a rearwardly extending V-shape guide18, and a forwardly extending V-shape guide 19.

The upwardly inclined member 14 has at its right hand edge a relativelylarge entrance opening 20 leading to a relatively large chamber 21adapted to accommodate a number of associated fabrics, it has also aforwardly extending V-shape guide 22 communicating with the chamber 21.The member 14 has also an intermediate entrance opening 23 at the leftband edge of the member and leading to a central chamber 24. Theentrance 0 ning 23 and the chamber 24 are adapte to accommodate one ormore trimming fabrics running over the member 14 in position to beassociated with and stitched on a main fabric or fabrics running underthe member 13 as indicated at C Fig. 4. The member has also on its upperside a forwardly extending guide 25 and a rearwardly extending guide 26.Both guides 25 and 26 communicate with the chamber 24.

Near its free end the member 14 has at its right hand edge an entranceopening 27 communicating with a chamber 28. The openi'n 27 is of lesswidth than the opening 23 an the opening 23 is of less width than theopening 20. The openings are calibrated to receive a variety of fabricsof various qualities associated in various positions relative to eachother; as may facilitate the work in hand. A forwardly extending roundedguide 29 communicates with the chamber 28.

On the under side of the member 14. (Fig. 2) a rearwardly extendingconcave guide 30 communicates with the chamber 2'1 and a forwardlyextending guide 31 communicates with the chamber 24. The guide 31 isimmediately under the guide 25 and in Fig. 1 is visible on the upperside of the member 14 and is also in line with the point of the guide 30so that a cord or fabric may run downwardly through the chamber 24 andthen forwardly under the member 13 or may in the. first instance rundownwardly through the chamber 24 and then upwardly and forwardlythrough the chamber 21; and then forwardly and through the chamber 17and then run forwardly under the presser foot as shown in Fig. 4; orreve-rsely may be inserted from below through the right hand chamber 21and then inserted from above through the left-hand entrance opening 23into the chamber 24 as may be desired for convenient disposition,observation and manipulation of the cord or fabric.

The dotted circle 16 (Fig. 1) designates the location of the needleopening in the top plate of the sewing machine. That needle.

opening is not in the presser foot, but itis necessary to show itsposition in order to illustrate the mode of operation. The presser footis made from a single piece of suitable metal formed as shown and havinga series of entrance openings, a series of chambers and a series ofV-shape guides substantially as shown.

' It will be noted that the entrance opening 23 and the chamber 24 areon a higher level than the entrance opening 20 and the chamber 21; andthe entrance opening 27 and the chamber 28 are on a higher level thanthe entrance opening 23 and the chamber 24 in order to accommodatebraids of different widths and cords of different sizes without wobblingand to guide small cord in view of the operator accurately in line withthe point of the needle to assure accurate stitching along the centralline of the cord and in order to admit of easy the opening 23 admits ofusing a minor fabric on the left-hand side of a current seam so that itmay be associated with other fabrics on the right-hand side of thecurrent seam looking forwardly, so that all the fabrics may be united atone operation by a single seam.

The presser foot is ada ted for use in sewing together a variety offabrics in various relation to each other.. A typical use is shown inFig. 4 in which a main fabric A, a trimming or minor fabric 13, and acord 0 are associated in a position for sewing the fabrics together by asingle seam. The main fabric A runs in a straight line under the presserfoot; the trimming fabric B is insorted from below upwardly through the7 opening 20 and downwardly through the opening 15 and continues thenceunder'the presser foot. The cord C extends downwardly through theopening 23, upwardly through the opening 21 and then runs on top of thefabric 13 in plain sight of the operator and then turns downwardlythrough the opening 15 and the three fabrics are united by the needleoperating in the opening 16 in the top plate of the sewing machine. Theoperator guides the distance of the seam from the edge of the mainfabric by noting the passage of the fabrics through the gauge opening 17It is to be understood however, that a reverse construction relative tothe entrance openings may be employed; that is to say:

the openings 15, 20 and 27 may lie on the left side and the opening 23may lie on the right side; thus permitting identical operations to beperformed by the use of my presser foot,

while the surplus of the major fabric lies at the left side of thepresser foot and needle; without departure from my invention.

The entrance opening 15 and the gauge opening 17 do not control theaccurate run of the cord C. The accurate run ofthe cord is controlledsolely by the aligned V-shape guideswhich are all in the plane of thevertical axis of the needle thus assuring accurate sewing along-thecentral line of the cord.

A V-shape guide 18, pointing rearwardly, has its apex immediately behindthe entrance opening 15 and in line with the exact centers of a seriesof chambers 21, 24 and 28. The respective entrance openings 20, 23 and27 are of suitable transverse widths to accom- -modate a wide range oftapes, braids, oval cords, and trimming fabrics and the trans- .Versedimensions of said entrance openings are successively reduced as theyoccur further from the entrance opening 15. Said entrance openings areonly for the purpose of easily and quickly inserting tapes, raids,cords, etc., as the case may be, into the chambers 21, 24 and 28. k

A special use ofthe entrance openings 15, 20 and 27 at one edge of thepresser foot and the entrance opening 23 at the opposite edge of thepresser foot 1s to facilitate the insertion of the round or ovalfabricthrough the entrance openin 23 and 27 without the risk of pulling the faric out of the entrance opening 20 while attempting to insert it throughwill be made through the creased parts'of' both fabrics. The fabrics areseparated by the thickness of the member 13. The downwardly creasedfabric D will be placed face upward on top of the work-table of thesewing machine and under the presser-foot 13; and the upwardly creasedfabric E will be placed face downward on top of the presser foot. Uponoperating the sewing machine the creased parts of both fabrics will runin unison and will be sewed together by a single seam. The sewing willbe done with very loose tension of the thread carried by the needle andwill make loose stitches approximately equal in length to the thicknessof the presser foot. As the sewing progressesthe loosely stitchedfabricwill travel together forwardly under the presser foot. When the seamiscompleted the fabrics D and E will be pressed apart and smoothed asshown in Fig. 6 and the stitches F may be tied as usual in hemstitchingor the tying may be omitted.-

To make pin tucks the fabric G will be creased by hand and the adjacentmembers, one on each side of the crease, will be united by stitching Hin the usual manner.

The center of the needle opening 16 is in line with the apex of theV-shape guides 18, 22, etc. This relation of the needle and the guide 18in the member 13 admits of turning the work accurately around the axisof the needle to facilitate accurate embroidery.

My universal presser foot is usable for plain sewing, embroidery,hemstitching, pin tucking and precise braiding without any change in thepresser foot itself.

To the best of my knowledge'and belief no other presser foot is adaptedto sew along the central line of a small cord in plain view on the upperside of the presser foot and associated with other fabrics running onthe underside of the presser foot. c

Having fully described my invention'what' I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. A universal one-piece presser foot for sewing machines, comprising anattaching member; an intermediate fiat member having an entranceopening. a gauge openin and a V-shape guide pointing rearwardly; and anupwardly inclined fabric-guiding member having right and left entranceopenings communicating with chambers in line with each other and alsohaving aligned guides whose apexes are in line with the needle and inline with each other.

2. A universal one-piece .presser foot for sewing machines, comprisingan attaching member; an upwardly inclined fabric-guiding member and anintermediate flat member having an entrance opening, a. gauge opening,and a V-shape' guide having its apex in line with the needle; saidupwardly inclined member having a series of openings with V -shapeguides whose apexes are all in line with the needle and in line with theapex'of the V-shape guide to the entrance opening in said fiat member,said upwardly inclined member having also right and left entranceopenings and a series of chambers at different elevation relative to thehorizontal feed plane of the sewing machine.

3. A presser foot comprising in a unitary structure an attaching member;a flat table member having an entrance opening, a needle opening, aguide located in line with the center of the needle opening, and a gaugein line with said entrance opening and adapted to guide the creased edgeof a fabric in a straight line, in such manner that the stitching isalways at uniform distance from the creased edge of the fabric; and anupwardly and rearwardly inclined member having right and left entranceopenings and upper and lower guides in a continuation of a verticalplane through the center of the needle opening; said inclined memberadapted to facilitate right or left insertion, for disposal andobservation of various fabrics inserted from above said inclined member,and also adapted to permit selective disposal and observation of variousfabrics, inserted from below said inclined member.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name at Cincinnati,Hamilton county, Ohio, this 17th day of May, 1927.

CHARLES W. DOOLEY.

